The Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Megathread

Of course.

There were a few comments on Iizuka being the guy behind Sonic 3 at Sega's blog, and also in a magazine interview with Iizuka himself talking about Sonic 4.
I got a sense of Sega trying to calm their fans down, by saying Iizuka worked with Sonic 3. As it must mean Sonic 4 will be just as good because of this man is keeping an eye on the project.

 

I'm not going to deny it; there are similarities with the engine of Sonic 4 and Rush, particularly in the physics department. That's really the extent of it right there.

However, that doesn't meant this game is going to be complete shit. I only saw all of the acts for Splash Hill, and to be honest I watched them once or twice only, but the levels there look like a lot of fun to play. Yes, there are dashpads, but they're not hugely overused, and the little bit I saw of Lost Labyrinth looked like it used them even less. It's not the old games, there's little doubt about that fact, and as such I can clearly see where the argument for it actually being called Sonic 4 rather than something else comes from.

However, I do think the game looks like fun, and I really don't think this is one of the worst things Sega have ever given us, in terms of Sonic. It's not what everyone wanted, and it has flaws, but I think that it's a step in the right direction. If Episode 2 and beyond can improve upon it, then I'm all for Sonic 4.

 

And that's the same thing SEGA did with Yuji Naka until he quit.

Then he suddenly stopped being the "creator of Sonic" (thankfully).

 

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA... HAHA... ha... ha...

So yeah...

Anyway, my own thoughts on the shortcomings of the game based on what I saw in the leaked footage, I've already posted on the Sega forums, and it was a bit of a mouthful, so I'm just going to copy/paste that here. I hope that practice isn't frowned upon in these forums...

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But we all know the creator of Sonic is Mr. Kanari from that faithful French magazine article "Le créateur de Sonic" (MEGAforce 12, December 1992, Page 24)!

ROFLMAO

Seriously, it is important to promote Iizuka as the creator of Sonic 4 at this point. He is the one who should fall and take the blame if Sonic 4 can't live up to its predecessors. (am I too harsh here?)

 

There is a difference between "engine similarities," which are similarities (minor ones in the grand scheme of things, might I add), and the game "being" "Rush HD."

 

Well this being my first post and all I'm kinda nervous about posting a speculation, and I am, most likely, definitely wrong on this one..but I thought I should try to explain my reasoning. This speculation of mine only popped up when I read a comment with the consoles PS3, 360 and the Wii used in the same context (with gaming) as the iPhone (which has been ruled out if I recall correctly) and the -iPad-.

This is where my point is. I wonder if Sonic 4's 4th console is actually an iPad. I've heard that even though its not a computer, its a pretty powerful piece of hardware. So perhaps the game will be scaled differently and ported to Apple's newest piece of technology?
And consider this: Sega put that iPhone picture in those initial website leaks as a joke. But perhaps they were also a thought deterrant as after realising it was fake, most people (from my view) ruled out Apple completely.


About the game itself now; I've seen parts of it, and I freaking love the look of it. It looks like the Sonic games I really enjoy playing (That being the Advance and Rush series). So naturally I'm definitely going to be getting this game. Its reminiscent of those games (in my opinion anyway) and I really enjoyed them. And the music! <3 I only heard two songs, both of them pretty short, and they were absolutely well composed. I couldn't wrap my head around it. I just fell in love with the BG music.


So I'm definitely going to be giving this a shot. So long as I can afford it....

 

I'm not complaining about the game being "Sonic Rush in HD", I'm stating that it has the same flaws Sonic Rush had in ground physics.

There's more of the uniqueness that was present in Sonic Rush's engine only. If you press left while entering a top-right quarter circle, you'll start running to the right, with the opposite momentum.

Link, for reference.

 

I'd initally kept my comments pretty short to avoid any attacks in the orginal thread so I decided I'd now write something with a little more body.

My present feelings about Sonic 4 are that it may not be a classic Sonic game, it might not have the exact same physics and gameplay as the originals, but that doesn't mean it can't be a good game.

The 3D renders initially grated on my nerves but I've come to accept them, I say give Sega a chance, if you play Sonic 4 and hate it then just stick to the classics and enjoy them for what they represent classic 90's Sega.

 

I've seen a lot of "BAWWW RUSH HD" going around and it's not just people pointing out similarities, it's people saying that the game is Rush HD.

Whether they're honestly that unsubtle or if they're just not being specific enough in voicing their perceptions, they're doing something wrong. I just wanted to point out that though the (current build of the) engine shows some of Rush's quirks, the game is not like Rush to any signficant degree, either in terms of level design or in terms of the overall look (I had to stop myself from saying "feel" there, haven't played it yet so how could I know?) of the physics. That its (current) engine shares some of Rush's problems is something worth noting, but it's not something worth overexaggerating any moreso than anything else is.

I know, I've actually done that in Rush entirely by accident.

 

Well it's nice to see that we can finally do this thread right for once (I hope).

I'm looking forward to the game, myself. I mean, I generally don't pay any attention to games I'm not interested in, so I'm not the type to follow a game with the attitude that it's probably not going to be good. Most games I follow I end up enjoying in the end (yes, even Sonic 2006). Not only that, but to be honest, this game actually does look like a nice true sequel to the classic games. Some of the act-specific gimmicks actually look really fun, and I'm actually kind of glad this didn't go the 16-bit route and instead decided to use the system's new capabilities to its advantage, because the graphics are absolutely gorgeous. If the game looks this good in crappy camcorder leaks, it must look great in HD. I think a Genesis or Saturn Sonic 4 could've possibly been pre-rendered anyway, as 3D was the big thing and they seemed to be leaning toward that direction a lot.

The physics and level design look fine to me (my favorite was the one point in the Splash Hill Act 3 leaked video where + - I thought he was going to fall into a bottomless pit, but it was the lower portion of the stage.   ) All of the stages seem to flow well, and while the music didn't impress me at first, it actually fits really nicely with the stages, and there are definitely a few gems (Splash Hill Act 3 <3). So far we haven't seen any "hold right to win" or any of that silliness, and bottomless pits actually seem scarce (the bigger ones are saved for the later stages, anyway). The badnik redesigns look pretty cool, and I'm loving the various homages to classic games in the stage design. At first the bosses look really easy, but then I remember they're the first two bosses in a game with up to at least 12 stages (besides, the bosses have never been very difficult, especially the first two). The best part is, this is only part 1.

*I'm putting anything that was leaked under a spoiler tags for the five people those who haven't seen them and don't want to spoil everything for themselves.

 

That's actually a reasonable idea. I'm going to start doing that. Imma go back and edit my previous post now.

 

Alright I figure it's about time I give my opinions on this game. I was going to comment in the other thread but it was locked before I had the chance.

In response to the Sonic Rush physics. Yes I agree, they are indeed based off Sonic Rush physics. Of course they were going to be it's made by Dimps. Why make something new when they can just base it off what they had before. But there have been some modifications that have made the engine a bit better in some regards, such as rolling down hills is more effective, more momentum needed, and a seemingly different jump. And with a couple months left and everything else done, what's left than to go back and edit the physics a bit... or work on episode 2. Whatever I think the physics are decent. Not Sonic 3 awesome but decent.

As for the rest of the game itself, I love it. It may be rehash yes, it may not be the Sonic 4 I imagined or wanted (What I wanted was a hand drawn experience with Sonic's sprites being highly based off the art used from the classic Japanese box art) but it still looks fun. Rehash or not seeing these things again for the first time in like 16 years puts a smile on my face. The fact that they're reusing this stuff instead of throwing Egg Pawns all over the place is fantastic. The art direction is decent and I honestly don't mind Modern Sonic being in the game. I suppose it makes sense. Sonic 4 or not, modern Sonic's been around for almost 12 years. Unfortunately he's not going anywhere.

But I love the improvements they've made on classic environments (Lost Labyrinth and Mad Gear stand out in particular to me. Splash Hill and Casino Street look good too though) And the return of in level Super Sonic makes me happy (One thing I never got to comment on. You know what I'm excited about? This is the first 2D Sonic game that has Super Sonic in it where he likely won't share Sonic's sprites. I always hated that in Sonic 2 and 3. You got these Super Sonic sprites, and then you look up or hit a spring and look it's normal Sonic again, but yellow. No more!) So in short I'm excited, and I plan on insta buy and having my friend come over for some hopefully classic Sonic action (He likes Sonic too but he's much more cautious than I am, and hasn't really liked the series since Adventure 1 and 2. So I'll buy the game and he'll try it out before he makes his opinion on the game. He kinda liked Unleashed though, the day time at least)

Oh right and + - Metal Sonic in episode 2 makes me jizz my pants  

 

I think we should ignore all this talk about "reserve all judgment of the game until it comes out". I think that we can make at least some judgments, to an extent. Look how much material we already have. I bet they'll change some things, but most of the core features/art/music will not change from the final product. Sure, they might tweak the physics some, but I highly doubt it will be substantially different. Same goes with everything else.

I'm still looking at buying the game, but that really shouldn't matter. Excessive love/hate of this game based on (unfounded) speculation of changes is unhelpful and irrelevant to discussion. We should work with and talk about what we have right now.

 

You're right and wrong at the same time.

I would say, that it's right to make criticisms at this point, but when it comes to "judgement," which has a tendency to be more final (if that even makes any sense), we ought to observe a little more restraint.

...I'm not even sure I got my point across just now, but that's the best I can do when I'm this hungry. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to get myself some pizza.

 

That depends on what you are using to make your judgement. For example, if a certain person thinks that the most important thing in a new game (or one of them) is the presence of new concepts/zones, he can say without problems that he won't like it, then. We can discuss if this kind of POV makes sense or not, but taste is a strange thing anyway. You can easily judge a game by what you see in a video, and at this point, some ppl saw *all* the game, even things engine-related, and know about previous games made by the same developer. I don't know about you, but when I see *that* much about a game, I already *know* if I will like it or not. And I never been wrong about this kind of judgement until this day, in more than 20 years of gaming. Even if you say that this is consequence of some sort of pre-conditioning, the conclusion is the same.

If you can't say for sure now, that's ok, really. But it's a safe bet that many ppl can. There's more than enough information about it by now.

 

IMHO if they replaced the awkward "tall S" slopes with the like of slope that was in emerald hill (the curved backwards L ones), the one you need to use the spring to go up, there would be no real need for the dashpads, and it would be something that a spindash could do. and since a spindash is a bit slower than the dashpads it would also increase the amount of time it would take to complete a level. also I believe the LLZ act 2 tune should replace act 3's tune, as the music should get more epic as you continue. the tune structure was kind of weird with LLZ:

act one: introductory tune
act two: Epic badassery tune that screamed "come one man!!! we ned to get to Robotnik quick!!!"
act three: more relaxed, laid back IMO

did anyone else see at the final vid leak the "avatar unlocked" achievement at the bottom of the screen before the ending?(sorry if you don't want me to talk about it, I will remove this if you need me to) do you think you could unlock classic sonic by playing the game through? or is it something for the xbox 360 avatar thing? my brother owns the xbox, not me, so I don't know much about it.

 

...Perhaps you can play through the game as your Avatar/Mii when completed? :O

 

The avatar awards are a Sonic head and a Sonic body suit.

 

Might have to do with online play? Wasn't there supposed to be online hiscore something? I am not familiar with the new consoles and their online status, if there is possibility to create your own avatar?